G
Guest
·I just bought my first lab puppy 2 days ago. He is 9wks old and 3rd to last pick of an 8 pup litter. We brought him home at 3pm and my family (wife, 4yr old, 2 1/2 year old and self) played with him in the back yard til 6. Lead him out of back yard into garage. He has bed in corner. I worked with him on lease for 5 minutes trying SIT, STAY, COME. He bucked with the lease, was ok with sit, but i couldn't get him to STAY long enough to practice that or COME. Fed and watered him. Left him with chew toys. Placed Arm & Hammer pet training pad well away from food and bed. Set him on it for a second. Left for the night. 6am Entered garage to barking, scared puppy, but when I held out my hand and he smelled it, he was a-ok. He missed the training pad but followed as I scooped poop, placed it on pad, threw it away and replaced pad. Fed and watered him. Put him on pad again. Went back in and showered. 6:20am let him out of garage into back yard. Worked with him 5 minutes with leash. SIT STAY COME. No real progress, seemed anxious to explore yard, lacked focus. Left him in yard to play. I went to work. Wife and kids played with for hour or so in morning. then a couple more time for few minutes here and there. i came home for lunch. we played with puppy. Came in for lunch. Puppy whined at window off and on for half hour. We played somemore (30 minutes) I went back to work. Read on this site only train for 5-10 minutes once a day, so I decided on 2:30 while kids nap. Came home at 2:30 put on leash. Did fair with SIT, still bucked at leash. Couldn't keep him sitted long enough for STAY or COME. Took him off leash, played for 10 more minutes went in. More whimpering and occasional bark at back sliding glass door. Ran errands. Played again with him for 10 minutes. Fed kids inside while more whining at door. 6pm lead around to garage. Fed and watered. Showed potty pad waited 15 minutes to see if pooped to show pad again. No luck. Left small light on. Left for the evening. I know this all may seem mundane, but i want so badly to do the right thing to have a great hunting companion and family pet. I am currently searching for a good dog house for the back yard so I don't have to keep carrying him off to the garage at night. I have a large enclosed back yard, and additionally I have a dog run that's about 75 ft long where i plan to put the dog house. I am so overwhelmed by what I read on all these websites about what has to be done by twelve weeks and how to make it fun and do this but don't do that. I want the dog to like his home. I don't want him whining at the window. Go crazy analyze and tell me all the mistakes I'm making please!